March 3, 2021
The photo is our visualization of a portion of the Aramis Project. It lacks certain key components including the overhead electrical transmission lines and 5-acre, lithium ion battery storage complex. Neither Alameda County nor Insect Power, the company behind Aramis solar, have released a complete and accurate visualization of the proposed project.
“A Big, In-Your-Face Project"
In August 2020, senior Alameda County Planner Bruce Jensen vividly described the proposed Aramis industrial solar plant as a "big, in-your-face project" that even with the mitigation proposed by the developer, Intersect Power, would significantly and adversely impact the aesthetics and scenic resources of North Livermore Valley.

In response to the use by his message by Save North Livermore Valley to criticize the project, planning staff claims we have taken the message out of context. No, the context is whether or not the Aramis project violates the state's environmental laws and the County General Plan and zoning code. You can read Jensen's entire message here.

One change has occurred since August 2020: the project is 13% smaller. When Jensen wrote his email, the area of solar panels at the Aramis site was 410 acres. It has since decreased to about 350 acres, although Intersect is appealing to increase the acreage.

At 350 acres, the Aramis project would still be the largest utility scale solar plant ever constructed in the San Francisco Bay Area. It would be nearly 7x the size of the Livermore premium outlets mall.

The bottomline is the Aramis project remains a massive intrusion on the agricultural land and open space of the valley and will forever destroy its scenic vistas.

The Beauty of Our Valley
North Livermore Valley combines a rare protected scenic corridor with agricultural land and numerous threatened species. This short video was taken at the proposed Aramis project site in Feb. 2021. The fields and views shown in the video will no longer exist if the project is approved.
Take Action To Save Our Valley
Tomorrow, March 4, 2021, at 9 a.m., the Board of Supervisors will review the Aramis Project. The hearing will be conducted online at this link: 


The public will be allowed to make comments on the project. Please speak at the hearing, and click the green button above to contact the Supervisors and staff today. Please add a subject line, such as Reject the Aramis Solar Power Plant, and your name and city of residence to the end of your message.

Here is suggested text you can cut and paste into your email message:

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Dear Board of Supervisors and County Officials:

I respectfully request that you reject the Aramis solar project for the following reasons:

1) The Aramis project will destroy North Livermore Valley’s scenic beauty. No method exists to hide or obscure the visual assault on the valley from the Aramis project’s 270,000+ eight-foot tall solar panels, new electrical substation, scores of lithium-ion battery stations, and overhead electrical transmission lines, some on towers reaching ten stories high.
 
These facts are not in dispute. The Final Environmental Impact Report found that the Aramis project will have “a substantial adverse effect on a scenic vista.” Even with landscaping, the report concluded that the adverse aesthetic impact remains “significant and unavoidable.”
 
2) The Aramis project will obliterate hundreds of acres of habitat for numerous threatened species including the California tiger salamander, California red-legged frog and Western burrowing owl. The agricultural land also serves as a wildlife corridor among nature preserves in and surrounding North Livermore Valley that are critical to maintaining the biodiversity of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. 
 
3) The Aramis project violates Measure D. Under voter-approved Measure D, the agricultural lands of Alameda County, including North Livermore, are to be preserved, enhanced and protected from “excessive, badly located and harmful development.” Commercial electricity power generation and the industrial storage of electrical energy are not agricultural uses of the land. 
 
4) Other, environmentally superior, ways exist to generate greater renewable energy. Alameda County can generate much greater renewable energy than the Aramis project while preserving its agricultural land by promoting the installation of solar panels on rooftops of home and businesses, over parking lots and next to freeways. 
 
5) Alameda County should complete a comprehensive solar policy first. The county should do what Contra Costa and Santa Clara Counties have already done: determine which areas of the county are appropriate for industrial solar facilities and only allow solar plants in those areas that pose the least conflict with open space, agricultural land, natural habitat and scenic resources. 

However, even without such a policy in place, it is clear that North Livermore Valley is not the location where the county should first allow the construction of utility scale solar facilities.
  
In conclusion, North Livermore Valley is designated as an agricultural district and should remain one.
Solar-Powered Battery System Under Construction in Oakland
Is it necessary to destroy hundreds of acres of productive agricultural land in order to have energy storage systems? No.

A 36 MW stand-alone battery storage system is under construction at an aging fossil-fuel power plant in Jack London Square in Downtown Oakland.

The Oakland Plant will charge from the grid during off-peak, low-demand hours and would discharge in peak hours for East Bay Community Energy customers. The project will come online next year.
Solar Power for Alameda County generated from plant on degraded land in Kern County
East Bay Community Energy is receiving 112 megawatts of electricity from the Rosamond Central solar project (in photo) located in Kern County. Many solar plants in Kern County have been constructed on previously disturbed or degraded land.
About Save North Livermore Valley

We started as a group of farm and ranch families and other members of the North Livermore Valley Rural Community. We have been joined by over 400 concerned residents in the City of Livermore and Tri-Valley area united for the purpose of preserving the open space, agricultural land and wildlife habitat of North Livermore Valley for future generations.